WINEX 2022

The Waiting is Over… WINEX 2022

It’s impossible to think back with any clarity about what we thought we were in for two years ago in March 2020 when the world shut down for this mysterious respiratory disease which began in China and swiftly spread across the whole Northern Hemisphere. We optimistically imagined that we might still be able to host WineX at its usual late October time slot that year.

We were no more explicit about how things stood at the beginning of 2021. Vaccination offered the prospect of a return to normal at some stage, though the roll-out was slow and the Delta Variant-fuelled Third Wave hammered what was left of our optimism. Then Omicron arrived, with it the discovery that we might be at the end of the pandemic stage, and living with Covid as we live with flu – as an endemic disease. [Let’s hope so!]

We are optimists – you have to be, living in the midst of power outages and lockdowns at the southernmost tip of the continent – so we are hoping that restrictions affecting the number of guests at an indoor function will very soon be eased. When that happens….then WineX, South Africa’s longest-running, most vibrant, and most innovative wine event will be back in its usual end-of-October slot at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Long the single biggest wine industry magnet, serving to attract new consumers and transforming the Gauteng wine scene, WineX is not a pop-up event: it requires months of planning, a fully functioning Convention Centre, permission to host at least 3000 people in a single indoor space, certainties around travel and accommodation and over R2m in marketing spend to deliver an audience which justifies the scale and calibre of the show.

All but one of these requirements are in place. We believe that with high levels of vaccination, new drugs to deal with Covid outbreaks and a compelling need to jump-start the economy, 2022 will see WineX once again bringing us all together. So diarise now Sandton Convention Centre 26 – 28 October 2022 for your first chance in three years to meet up with Gauteng’s many thousands of wine enthusiasts at the relaunch of South Africa’s premier wine event.

For Exhibitor Booking details click HERE